Advent Addition
by Audra Kaiba
Summary: Sequal to Science of the Fall; Kaia Strife is going back to Edge to see her brother after a slightly rattling phone call from the Turks. But when she picks up a runaway, ends up taking a job for Shinra, and her own brother falls for the stray she brought home, things get a little interesting. CloudxOC implied VincentxOC Rated just to be safe. Set after Advent Children.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm baaaaack :) SEqual to Science of the Fall is a go!**

"I don't know how to explain it." Hojo muttered under his breath as he gazed up at the specimen in front of him. Reno and Rufus were staring at her too.

She was a creature of beauty for sure, with silver hair reaching just past her shoulders, and sharp well-defined features. She was floating in the tank before them, her hair drifting around her shoulders and her eyes were closed. She was a solid replica of her brother.

"Explain what?" Rufus asked, tearing his eyes away from the girl.

"She's waking up." Hojo replied smoothly.

"What?" Rufus's eyes widened. "How?"

"I don't know. Something disturbed her mind after Sephiroth's last fall. When Kadaj and the others were killed… her mind started racing. And something else came up on a scan." Hojo replied typing something in on a computer.

"What something?" Rufus asked, eyeing the girl.

"A brainwave pattern. Something's different about her." Hojo looked at the blonde president who was giving him a 'what-the-matter-with-you' look. "What?"

"She's a Remnant. What do you expect, for her to be normal?" Reno asked sarcastically.

"I mean she's different from other Remnants. Her mind works." Hojo replied.

"And there you have it. Mad scientist Hojo just called his experiments stupid." Reno announced.

Rufus sent him a look that clearly told him to keep his mouth shut unless he wanted deskwork. "What do you mean exactly?"

"She has…. abilities. She can do things no human nor Remnant can." Hojo explained. "I've seen evidence of Lifestream powers in her, but none of my studies can prove how it's possible."

"When you say 'Lifestream powers' what do you mean by that?" Rufus asked, snapping his fingers and stopping Reno who had been about to pick up a jar of what looked like human eyeballs.

"The Lifestream has given her powers that no on else has. If she wakes up, she could recreate her brother, the other remnants, and Sephiroth without even batting an eyelash." Hojo said hurriedly.

"When will she wake up?" Reno asked watching a lab rat run around its cage.

"Her sleeping charts are abnormally high and her blood pressure is rising rapidly." Hojo replied.

Reno lifted his eyebrows. "And in English that means…?"

"It means, you orange haired twit, that she could wake up at any moment." Hojo snapped.

Rufus walked over and looked down at the computer screen his eyes scanning over all the information. Reno looked back at the girl and his eyes widened.

"Um, sir?"

"Be quiet Reno. What does this line here mean?"

"It means that she's stronger."

"So-,"

"Sir?"

"Shut it Reno. It means that her physical strength is increasing?"

"Yes."

"LOOK AT THE TANK!" Reno yelled.

"What are you- my gods!" Hojo exclaimed as he looked at the girls face only to see her blue/green eyes fixed on him.

"She's awake?" Rufus asked.

The tank suddenly exploded, showering the three Shinra members with glass, water, and mako. Rufus dove behind a table and Reno turned his back and braced himself. Hojo ducked down behind his desk.

Reno turned back around, glass showering off the back of his jacket, and finally got a look at her that wasn't obscured by mako. She was practically a spitting image of Jenova, now that they could see her clearly, though with shorter hair. She tore the many tubes from her arms and stomach and threw them across the room.

Murderous eyes turned on Hojo who was cowering in fear, his head barely visible over his desk, and narrowed. If Reno hadn't been absolutely terrified that she was going to kill him, he would have whistled at her. Her body was perfectly curved in all the right places but she was thin and tall, with pale porcelain skin that was revealed by the tight black shorts and almost non-existent top.

"Do I dare ask who you are?" She inquired of Hojo who had gotten up enough nerve to raise his head above the desk.

"I am a simple scientist here at Shinra nothing more. Please don't kill me." Hojo whimpered.

The girl turned her head to the side and her expression grew puzzled, then hardened. "Mother tells me you're the fool that created me. 'Simple scientist' doesn't really cover that does it?" Her voice was cold and cruel. "She has also informed me that I should kill you. What do you have to say about that?"

"You shouldn't do that." Rufus said standing up and brushing glass out of his hair. "We can help you reunite yourself with your brother. But if you kill him," He nodded at Hojo. "It'll be no use."

"And what if I kill you and make these two do my bidding? Mr. Shinra?" She asked calmly.

"Well you see, Reno doesn't take orders from anyone but me, and you will get so sick of both him and Hojo you'll want to kill them. With me here they'll do as they're told." Rufus told her.

"Hn. Is that right? Well then I'll just kill the red head and be done with it." She said casually, as a scalpel whizzed past her and hovered not 2 cm from Reno's throat. "Or are you going to do exactly what I tell you."

"As much as we don't exactly 'need' Reno, we'll follow your orders. Hojo, find her some clothes and bring me the sword I had made." Rufus said calmly, meeting her gaze with his own blue eyes

**R&R ppl!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Gonna try and get all of this uploaded ASAP so be prepared for alerts out the ass if I start uploading multiple chapters at a time. It's completed, just has to be converted to chapters in different documents and then uploaded and all that fun nonsense. :) Enjoy!**

"I'm not doing shit." Sapphire blue eyes flashed dangerously as the girl crossed her arms and fumed, her long silvery blue hair with its sapphire streaks swirling about her shoulders as she turned.

_"You'll do as your told unless you want me to come out there and get you myself."_ The voice from the cell phone replied.

"Just try it Tseung and see what happens. I'm not going back and that's the end of it." That said she snapped the blue phone shut and pocketed it. "Damn Shinra." She growled. "I left for a reason."

_You left because you saw they are the real monsters. _Murmured a voice in the back of her mind.

"Shut up." She growled, then returned to her own pondering. "I guess I could go back to Edge and see that annoying brother of mine." She bit her lower lip and thought for a moment. "But how in the hell am I going to get there? I suppose I could call Cid. He's always been up for giving me a ride."

_"Isn't he the one who wants to marry you?" _

"Do you know how to keep quiet?" The girl growled. "I'll just call Cid and have him come pick me up. It's not like cleaning that damn machine of his 20 times a day is necessary."

She was Kaia. An ex SOLDIER with a 1st class background and unheard of mako levels in her system, as proved by her eyes that, though they were still sapphire blue, had the bright glow behind them. She was deadly, and fiercely protective of everything. Especially her home. Or rather her current home. She moved over to lean against the window and look out at the little town down the hill.

Banora. The home of her two best friends, and the resting place of their souls. Or at least one of them. She shook it off and turned back around, brushing out of the study. She moved quietly up the stairs to one of the wings of the house and slipped in the door that sealed it off from everywhere else.

She loved it here. In the old mayor's estate house that had been gifted to her by the late mayor's son, her closest friend, and the large expanse of land that surrounded the house. She lived here alone, allowing those that had moved back into the town to visit whenever they liked. Though since the monsters had stopped appearing every week she didn't get visitors as much anymore.

Sapphire eyes moving to the book on the bedside table, Kaia blew a stray piece of hair out of her face. So much for lying out under a Banora white and reading the book aloud while sitting next to the two memorials. With a sigh, slightly tinged with annoyance, she pulled a black box out from under the king size bed and opened it slowly, smiling slightly.

"Guess it's time to brush off the dust." She said softly, trailing her hand over the black fabric inside. She grudgingly shrugged off the silky robe and sweats she had been wearing before slipping into the uniform in front of her. Finishing with the last clasp on her shoulder guards she walked over to the mirror and blinked a few times.

She didn't recognize herself like this. She hadn't worn this uniform in almost five years. Maybe even six. She'd removed it after settling down in Banora and had never pulled it out since. It still fit though, the black mini dress, held to her frame by the form fitting chest plate and the silver weapons belt around her waist still hugged her figure. The black cargo pants were lose enough to allow for movement but were tight enough to still be feminine, and tucked into a pair of black combat boots, while thick metal armor hugged her legs from the bottoms of the boots and reached up past her knees. The blue sleeves she used to tied at her upper arm had had been singed and ripped sometime in the past, instead now she wore black ones, with green dyed into the folds of the one on her right arm, and red on the other. She picked up her sword, and looped the leather strap around her belt so it hung on her left side.

She moved throughout the house, retrieving weapons from miscellaneous places. Two pistols from behind a painting in the downstairs hall, a few daggers mixed in with the cutting knives in the kitchen, and a small box of materia from under the kitchen sink. She moved to the living room next, kneeling down in front of the fire place and reaching in and up into it. Kaia felt around for a little while before grinning and pulling out an assault rifle. It shimmered slightly in her hand and turned into a different gun entirely. A bolt action this time. This was her Black Mirage. A gun that transformed into whatever firearm the owner needed at any time.

"It's been a while since we went out hasn't it." She murmured to it, and it seemed to hum in response almost. "The best thing to come out of my SOLDIER days." She grinned before standing up and walking outside.

She sighed and looked up at the sky, the few rays that escaped the clouds making her hair shimmer as it blew back. The last thing she wanted to do was go to Edge. Or anywhere near Midgar for that matter. Back where it had all started. Where she had met her best friends. And him. Where they had gotten so wrapped up in all the chaos she had ended up losing all of them. And then there was the problem of her brother. He would kill her if he ever found out.

She shook her head and pulled out her cell phone dialing in Cid's number.

"_Yo, the fuck is this and whad'ya want?" _

Kaia laughed slightly. "It's me Cid."

"_Oh! Hey, Kaia. What's going on?" _

"Was wondering if you could give me a lift to Edge." She said casually.

"_Um… sure thing. When?"_

"Tomorrow. I'm planning to go to the forgotten city tonight and I'll crash there and if you could pick me up in the morning it would be a lot of help."

"_Yeah I think I can-," _

_"Hi Kaia!" _Yuffie yelled in the background.

_"Shut up! Yeah I'll come get ya Why are you going to the forgotten city?" _Cid inquired.

"You'll find out later." Kaia replied.

_"Whatever, we'll see you tomorrow." _

"Thank you." Kaia said and hung up. She pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her pocket and walked over to the motorcycle parked in front of the house. It was a sleek, flame red and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she threw her leg over it and started it up, the bike growling to life underneath her with a snarl. She did have a single wing, that she could dissolve and send away at any time she wished, and though she could fly perfectly well with it. The only issue was that it was painful to see. She had gotten it, her own gift from the lifestream, the same day one of her closest friends had died. She shook it off and gunned the engine and took off, lazily waving to a few of the town's residents as she zoomed off.

"I'm going to go to the ruins. I'll be back later. In the meantime keep Vincent here." Cloud said as he mounted his motorcycle.

"You want me to keep Vincent here? Why?" Asked Tifa. "And why are you going to the ruins?"

"Because I want to try and convince him to get a cell phone when I get back. And I'm going to the ruins to make sure there's nothing of Sephiroth's left." Cloud replied

"You're obsessed." Tifa muttered. "But I'll try and keep Vincent here. If he does leave don't blame me."

A shadow of a smile graced Cloud's face. "Don't worry he'll stay."

"Just be careful. Okay?"

"Always am." Cloud started up the bike and zoomed off.

**R&R**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer time! Since I forgot to put it on the other chapters. I own NOTHING except for Kaia and Kade and they dont even completely agree with me on that. **

Nothing had changed. Kaia parked her bike and removed her helmet. The Forgotten City was just as she had remembered it. Dark and foreboding in appearance and, to everyone else, creepy. But Kaia felt at home here. She had always loved this place and had often come here during her days with Shinra.

But that had been a long time ago. It had been years since she had been here and yet…. All the sounds, all the smells, even the wind, was still the same. She put down the kickstand and dismounted walking to the water's edge and looking down at her reflection.

The water was different though. Her brow furrowed as she tried to peer into the once crystal clear water that was now pitch black. What had happened? She reached her black, fingerless, gloved right hand down to touch the water, but a painful throb in her arm caused her to stop.

"_Geostigma"_. The word passed through her lips and her brain though she had never heard it before. What was with the water? Why did her common sense tell her it was dangerous to even touch, while her brain urged her to dip her hand into its depths?

Shaking her head she straightened up and pondered over the strange sight before her. She looked up at the monument on the spit of land in the middle of the lake and a glowing object caught her attention. Not even pausing to think, she leapt into the air and landed on the opposite shore. It was a materia. Glowing a soft white with a green tint to it, it was unlike anything she had run across before.

She picked it up and studied it, her blue eyes quizzically taking it in as she held it up in the air and tried to figure out what type of materia it was. Though she was as clueless as ever. Materia had been more up Genesis' alley. Her eyes suddenly widened as the materia glowed even brighter and sank into her hand.

"Shit." Kaia muttered flicking her hand a couple times. She didn't even know what the damn thing did and here it was now equipped to her actual arm. How in the hell did she get herself into these things?

A sudden disturbance in the grass behind her caused her to whirl around, hand flying to the hilt of her sword and drawing it. A young girl was standing a few feet away, fear in her silver gray eyes as she met Kaia's fierce gaze. Her hair was black and she looked only about 18 with light skin and a pretty face. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a black leather jacket over it and had a black backpack slung over her shoulder.

Kaia replaced the sword in its sheath and held up both hands. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. You just surprised me that's all."

The girl visibly relaxed. "I'm sorry to have startled you. My name's Kade."

"No problem. I'm Kaia." Kaia replied. "So what are you doing out here?"

"What is that?" Kade asked as the Highwind soared into view and hovered above the treetops.

"My ride." Kaia replied as the gargantuan machine touched down near the edge of the lake.

A side door opened and a black blur streaked out of it tackling Kaia and causing her to fall on her back in the dirt. The blunette girl's eyes narrowed and Kade blinked a few times at the sight in front of her.

"Yuffie," Kaia said in a very dangerous tone. "Get the hell off of me. Now."

"Kaia I'm so glad to see you." The hyperactive ninja said releasing Kaia and bouncing around as Kaia pushed herself back to her feet.

"You are a nuisance." Kaia muttered, dusting herself off.

"Yuffie! What did I tell you about that damn shuriken of yours! It crashed into the controls again!" Cid yelled walking out towards them.

Kaia snickered. "Some things never change. How you doing Cid?"

"Would be better if I wasn't stuck with this teenaged chatterbox for another week and a half. Her father got annoyed and sent her to me to teach her some discipline." Cid grumbled. He then brightened up. "So have you thought anymore about my offer?"

"The answer was 'no' four months ago Cid why would it be any different now?" Yuffie asked still bouncing around.

"You been listening to my phone calls again!?" Cid exploded.

"Yep! And besides," Yuffie said grinning. "You know that Kaia and Vincent have had a thing for the past few years or so."

"To tell you the truth, I haven't heard from him since the last time I was in Midgar." Kaia said tersely. "Oh and you two." She dragged Kade forwards. "Meet Kade. She's on the run from her parents and I've told her I'll help her out. Kade this is Yuffie and Cid."

"Hi!" Yuffie said brightly.

"Since when have you been dating Vincent?" Cid was obviously oblivious to what Kaia had just said.

"I haven't seen him in 5 years Cid." Kaia said. "Do you mind if I bring my motorcycle along?"

"Sure why not. She goin' to?" He jerked his thumb at Kade who shook her head vigorously.

"No don't trouble yourselves. I'm fine on my own there's no need to-,"

"Kade, shut up and get on." Kaia said smiling. "I said I'd help you and that's what I intend to do."

"For the record Yuffie, you're getting off with them." Cid said.

"Yay!" Yuffie cheered.

"I should have stocked up on aspirin." Kaia moaned.

"I'm not getting a phone." Vincent growled from his place against the wall.

"Hey don't get onto me about it. Cloud's the one who said it not me." Tifa said defensively as she washed the dishes.

"When is Cloud coming back?" Marlene asked as she looked up from playing with a spinning top.

"He didn't say. Though I got the impression it would be sometime tonight." Tifa replied, shutting off the water and drying the plates with a towel.

"I was planning on leaving tonight." Vincent muttered.

"But why?" Marlene asked. "You're never around."

"I have things to attend to." Vincent replied.

Tifa snorted. "Cid would have loved to hear that."

"I'm leaving as soon as Cloud gets back." Vincent said. "Without a phone."

"Hey! If you got a phone we could call you and you could come see us more!" Marlene said brightly.

Tifa smiled at Vincent who looked as expressionless as ever. "Yeah Vincent, I'm sure you'd love to hear from Marlene on a daily basis. Don't you think?"

Vincent shot a glare at the young bartender. "I'm not getting a phone and that's the end of it."

"Okay. Jeeze. Take it up with Cloud." Tifa said.

"What is that noise?" Marlene asked as the roar of engines shook the windows.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was the Highwind." Tifa said, abandoning the job of cleaning the tables and walking towards the door curiously. Vincent followed.

"What is he doing?" Tifa asked staring at the Highwind that was hovering a good 200 feet above them.

"I'd rather not know." Vincent said.

"I just hope he doesn't wreck anything."

"It's Yuffie!" Marlene said, grinning and waving as someone jumped out.

"Who's that with her?" Tifa asked, shielding her eyes with her hand as the two figures fell from the airship.

"No idea." Vincent said as the two girls landed in front of them.

"Yuffie? Why didn't you call and tell us you were coming?" Tifa asked.

"Didn't know I was until about 10 minutes ago. This is Kade." Yuffie explained.

"Move." Vincent said.

"Huh?" Everyone stared at him.

"Move." Vincent repeated as they all looked up to see a motorcycle and rider come flying out of the Highwind.

Yuffie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "I told her not to do anything stupid!"

"Who is that?" Tifa asked.

"Give you one guess." Vincent said darkly as he watched the motorcycle hit the ground and heard tires squeal as it streaked forwards. It came within a few feet from them and stopped the rider balancing it with both legs and pulling off their helmet.

"What's up?"

**R&R**


	4. Chapter 4

**Diclaimer: I own only my OCs. Square Enix owns all Final fantasy VII Characters. **

"You could have been killed!" Yuffie practically yelled at Kaia who was walking towards the couch, filing her nails.

"Could have been. But I wasn't was I?" Kaia said calmly. She set down the file and pulled off her cloak.

"Would have thought you'd traded in that uniform for something else by now." Vincent commented.

"Well Vincent, like you, I find the need to be in the same outfit all the time when I'm around people." Kaia shot back.

Vincent glared at her.

"So what are you doing here?" Tifa asked.

"Thought I'd drop in. See my friends and try to catch up. Haven't been here for five years." She said easily.

_"Why don't you tell them the real reason you're here?" _Vincent said, slipping into Kaia's mind so he could communicate silently with her.

Kaia scowled. _"And what would that reason be?" _

The door opened and Cloud walked in looking very annoyed and as though his day couldn't get worse.

"Hi, Cloud."

Upon seeing Kaia, his face clearly said it just had.

"Oh great, what do you want?"

"Is it a crime for me to want to see my little brother?" Kaia asked standing up.

"We're twins. You're only older by 2 minutes." Cloud growled.

Kade looked between the two. "They're twins?"

"I know we don't look a thing alike do we?" Kaia asked.

"Thank god." Cloud muttered.

"Why you-,"

"They have serious sibling rivalry problems. I don't think they have ever gotten along since Kaia ran away." Tifa said shaking her head, as the two began a staring contest.

"Ran away?" Kade asked.

"That's right. She ran away from home when she was 12 and disappeared. Cloud met her again 6 years ago and they haven't gotten along to well since then. Physically they're both just as powerful as the other. But mentally…." Yuffie trailed off.

"No one knows what happened to Kaia while she was gone, except that she's a former 1st Class SOLDIER. We all have our own theories as to why, but she is the strongest willed person I know other than Cloud. She has never run from a fight, and will stand up to anyone even if they're twice her size." Tifa explained.

"But there are similarities between them." Yuffie said. "They both have blue eyes, and they're both obsessed with their hair. Cloud spikes his and Kaia dyes hers."

"Not exactly." Muttered Vincent. Kaia threw him a look.

"Wait a minute!" Cloud irrupted. "I know why you're here! You heard Sephiroth made an appearance last month and you came to investigate!"

"And then there is the obsession with Sephiroth that ties their dysfunctional family together." Yuffie said.

11:00 that night found Kaia on the roof, looking out over the city, her hair blowing freely around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were distant, staring off into the darkness recalling memories that haunted her.

"You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here without a jacket." Her cloak fell around her shoulders as Vincent came to stand beside her.

"Thanks." She said quietly.

"Thinking about him again?" Vincent asked

"This city, it brings back memories. Memories I would prefer to forget." Kaia replied softly.

"But you can't. You never can." Vincent told her.

"How do you do it?" Kaia asked, turning to look up at him.

"Do what?"

"You've done so much wrong and it doesn't seem to faze you a bit." Kaia replied.

"I learn to live with it." Vincent said darkly.

"Which is short for: 'I keep it all bottled up inside so that when I die I'll know I deserve it.'" Kaia said more to herself than to Vincent as she turned back to the city.

She could feel him glaring at her.

"Remind me again how many times I've gotten you out of trouble." Vincent reminded her.

"Whatever." The young girl scoffed.

"So, you are here because of Sephiroth?" Vincent asked.

Kaia rubbed her arm uneasily. "Kind of. I got a call day before yesterday telling me to come back."

"Call from who?" Vincent's red eyes glowed softly.

"Tseung. They want me to track down some 'thing' that escaped. I bet it was Hojo's fault it got out in the first place." Kaia reported.

"Is that the only reason?"

"Tsung also said something about Reno being obsessive about me and driving them all insane but I think he was lying through his teeth on that one." Kaia smirked.

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you think? I'll go in, see what they want, see how much materia they're willing to give me and ask if I can kill Hojo." Kaia said an evil glint in her eyes.

"So you're going to help them catch whatever it is?" Vincent was quite surprised at this.

Kaia snorted. "Are you out of your mind? I'm not going after the thing. That's the Turk's job. They pay me in advance because I'll say I'll do it. I get a new cell number and go back to Banora."

"Have you told anyone else yet? About…," Vincent trailed off. She knew what he was talking about.

"No. Not yet. I'll get around to it some time." She replied.

"So you're a runaway?"

"Yeah. I guess you could say that." The teen replied shrugging.

"And Kaia said she would help you?" Cloud asked from across the room where he was cleaning his swords.

"Yeah. How many of those things do you have?" Kade indicated the swords.

Cloud glanced up at her. "Let me just say a lot and leave it at that."

Kade stood up and walked across to where he was sitting at the table. "My brother was a sword collector. He owned almost 50 until-," She trailed off as she ran the tips of her fingers gently over the side of one blade.

"You know how to use one?" Cloud asked.

Kade shook her head. "No. My brother offered to teach me but he never got around to it."

"What happened to him?"

"He-," Kade looked away, though she could feel those beautiful blue eyes watching her. "He died when I was 9. He was killed for standing up for what he thought was right."

"I'm sorry." Cloud said softly.

"No. It was a long time ago."

Cloud could see the pain in her downcast eyes and felt something pass through his mind. An impulse to comfort her as best as he could.

"I could teach you. If you wanted me to." He offered.

"Huh?" Kade looked sharply up at him, puzzlement in her gaze.

"To use a sword. I could teach you if you want."

Kade laughed a little as she brushed her hand over the blade again. "I bet these things weigh more than I do."

"There are others. Kaia probably brought her entire stash." He told her. Then muttered. "She owns at least 200. Unless she couldn't pack them in with all the other weapons."

"What is she?" Kade asked.

"What do you mean?" Cloud met her steel gray eyes.

"Kaia. What does she do?"

Cloud sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "To tell you the truth I really don't know. I know she's been hiding from Shinra for the past few years and jumps at any sighting of Sephiroth that's reported."

"Sephiroth?" Kade turned her head to the side, her eyes questioning him. Cloud thought she looked cute.

"He was a member of SOLDIER. You know, the group that Shinra had to defend it. We were all injected with a certain type of shot. But Sephiroth was different. He was almost blood related to Jenova. You heard about her I imagine."

Kade nodded. "The calamity that fell from the sky and nearly wiped out everyone."

"That's the one. Sephiroth was related to that calamity and Shinra had put millions into bringing him to life as a sort of mega human. Or something along those lines. But when he found out about everything, he started to hate Shinra for what they had done. Then he began to hate everything and attempted to take over the planet. I was able to stop him with help from members of the group you met today. There are a few others you haven't met though." Cloud shook his head at the memory.

"When you say 'we were injected…' what do you mean? Where you part of SOLDIER as well?" Kade asked, she had taken a seat on the arm of the couch by now.

Cloud hesitated. "That's.. complicated."

A sudden outburst of raised voices and a loud crash from downstairs drew their attention. They looked at each other and headed for the door.

**R&R**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Square Enix owns all Final Fantasy VII characters. I own only Kade and Kaia. **

"Would you just come back and talk to the president?" Tseung asked looking over at Rude who was standing up from his flight into the wall.

"No." Kaia snapped, her hand curled into a fist by her side.

"Come on Kaia. All we want to do is find out what happened to you after-," Reno suddenly came face to face with the barrel of the Black Mirage, though Kaia's eyes never left Tsung.

"You need to stay out of this Reno. You know she'll shoot you." Rude told the red head.

"No doubt in my mind." Reno squeaked.

"Kaia please. He wants to talk to you that's all." Elena tried to persuade the blunette girl whose eyes were starting to take on a green hue.

"You can tell _Mr. Shinra_ that if he wants to talk to me, he can come see me. I'm here for a week." Kaia snarled.

"What happened?" Asked Cloud as he and Kade walked in.

"Shinra invaded and Kaia tried to kill Rude." Tifa reported.

"Who are they?" Kade asked.

"Turks. They work for Shinra." Cloud told her.

"Kaia don't make us drag you." Tsung warned.

"I better not be in the 'us' part of that." Reno said hurriedly. "I didn't want to come face her in the first place. After the last time we saw her, I don't know how we're still breathing."

"Reno shut up." Elena told him.

"Hey! Both of you cork it." Tsung warned. "Kaia, please. You can even take your own motorcycle."

The young girl seemed to think for a moment. In one motion she replaced her gun at her belt and drew the black coat over it. "Fine." She looked back at Cloud. "I'll be back later."

"Hey wait a minute! What's all this about!" Cloud yelled after her.

"I'll tell you later." She said warningly as she looked back at him. For a moment her eyes glowed even brighter than usual, then she was gone.

"What did Shinra want with Kaia?" Tifa asked Cloud a few hours later.

"You tell me." Cloud replied.

"Well what do you think?" Tifa added.

"Chances are she killed a lower ranked Turk on her way here and Rufus is going to chew her out for it." Cloud said casually.

Kade stared at him in shock. "So she's an assassin?"

"More like a homicidal maniac." Cloud muttered.

Tifa glared at him. "Don't listen to him. We don't know what she is and she hasn't killed anyone in what-?" She looked at Vincent and Yuffie. "A few years?"

"Days." Cloud corrected.

"Cloud!"

"Sorry."

"Don't listen to him. She's not a murderer and she's perfectly sane." Tifa paused. "Aside from the Sephiroth obsession. You have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah you do. Make her mad and she'll kill you in your sleep." Cloud taunted.

"If you don't shut up I'll kill you in your sleep." Tifa warned, jabbing a finger at him. Cloud fell silent and went back to cleaning his sword. "Well I don't know about you all, but I'm going to bed."

"Whatever." Cloud was obviously sulking.

Tifa ignored him and turned to Kade who was reading a book she had found. "You know where you're sleeping."

The young girl nodded. "Thank you. For everything."

"Don't mention it. And don't let Cloud give you trouble." Tifa looked at Vincent and Yuffie. "You two I know are set right?"

"Yep!" Yuffie chirped. Vincent only nodded.

"Goodnight then." Tifa walked out of the room.

Silence settled in and Yuffie looked around at them all, the gears turning slowly in her head.

"I have an idea!" She cheered causing Kade to drop the book.

"What is it Yuffie?" Cloud asked.

"Truth or Dare!"

"Hell no." Vincent said.

"But why not?" Yuffie pouted.

"Yuffie, the only time it's any fun is when Barrett is around and he's drunk. That way we can all torture him and the rest of us live." Cloud told her.

Kade reached down and tried to grab the book without falling off the couch. It didn't work. She ended up on her butt with the book sliding away to the opposite wall.

"Shit." She muttered.

"Are you alright?" Cloud asked trying not to laugh.

"I'll be fine." She stood up and brushed herself off. "I'm going to bed."

"Don't touch me." Kaia warned as she parked her bike and dismounted.

"Wouldn't even attempt it." Reno said fearfully.

"Chicken." Elena muttered.

"Am not." Reno retorted.

"Be quiet." Tsung commanded.

"Well aren't we the commanding type." Kaia said, noting how they moved into position around her. Reno and Elena were on either side of her, Reno on the left Elena on the right, while Tsung was in front of her and Rude was behind her.

"Kaia don't try and mouth off." Tsung said.

"Wouldn't cross my mind." Kaia muttered.

"Just behave yourself. We've had a few problems." Tsung said edgily.

"Noticed." Kaia said, looking from the glass on the pavement to the taped over window above. "The experiment do that?"

Reno and Elena looked across at each other and nodded.

"Yeah. Had a bit of a fit when we sent security in to contain it."

Kaia's eyebrows lifted. "I think you might want to let me in on this little fiasco that's going on."

"He'll explain it to you." Tsung replied as they entered the elevator.

"Right." Kaia muttered.

_Come to me. _A voice whispering her name. _You must carry out your mission my daughter. _Where was it coming from? _You know what you must do. Fulfill my wishes child of mine. _

Steel gray eyes snapped open and Kade sat bold upright, shaking as she fought to catch her breath. Running a hand through her black hair she threw back the sheet and stood up. She knew for a fact she wasn't going to get back to sleep.

Sighing in exasperation she quietly moved across the dark room and slipped out the door, her bare feet making no noise on the wooden boards of the hallway. She treaded lightly to the upstairs living room and found a single lamp turned on. Her eyes scanned the room and fell on Cloud who was asleep on the couch, sword still stretched across his lap as he held the rag loosely in his hand.

Kade struggled not to laugh at the blonde as she curled up in a chair across the room from him and picked up the book she had been reading before.

Almost an hour passed and she had finished the book.

Grumbling to herself about authors and cliffhangers she looked over at Cloud who was still asleep. She smiled to herself and then a smirk over took her features.

Standing up slowly she crept across the room and behind the couch and then bent down until she was level with Cloud's ear before she whispered to him.

"Cloud, Sephiroth is attacking."

Cloud sat bolt upright his sword flying across the room as his hand flew to the sheath at his back, obviously under the impression that that was where the sword was. Blue eyes scanned the room and landed on Kade.

"Kade get behind me Sephiroth is back." He stuttered.

Kade gave him an utterly bewildered look before bursting out laughing. Cloud stared at her until it registered in his still tired brain and she caught a trace amount of color flood to his face.

"Never expected that reaction from you." Kade giggled.

Cloud rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably before bending down and picking up one of the swords that had taken flight. "That wasn't funny." Kade laughed harder.

**R&R plz**


	6. Chapter 6

**Diclaimer: I own Kaia and Kade. That's it. **

"So what do I do now?" Kade asked, looking down at the sword in her hands.

"Well for starters pull it out of its sheath."

Cloud replied choosing one of his smaller swords from off the couch. Tifa had allowed them to move all the furniture back in order to practice in the living room with a stern warning that if they broke anything, they would pay dearly.

Kade pulled the sword out of the sheath as gracefully as Cloud had ever seen. He looked at her, bemused.

"I thought you said you didn't know anything about swords." Cloud said.

"Huh?" Kade blinked at him.

"The way you pulled it out. That was beautiful. Absolutely perfect." Cloud commented. Kade smiled and raised the sword above her head and promptly dropped it. "Spoke to soon didn't I?" Cloud asked.

Kade grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. You could say that."

"Alright, let's get started. You can lift that okay can't you?" He pointed his own sword at hers.

"Yeah. It's pretty light weight."

"Alright, first I'm going to teach you a warm up form. Watch closely and try to mimic my movements." He began to show her a slow formation and she tried to follow without much success.

"I can't do this." Kade moaned as she screwed up for the sixth time at least. She leaned the sword against the couch and sat down defiantly.

"Alright let's try another method." Cloud set his sword down and walked over to her. He reached down and picked up her sword and then grabbed her hand and pulled her up and against him.

"Cloud what are you-," Cloud turned her around by her shoulders so her back was to him, placing her hands on the swords hilt and his hands over hers.

"Now just relax. I'll move you how you need to." He told her, his breath warm and reassuring on her neck.

Kade did as told and he conducted her movements until they had completed the entire form twice. She had gotten it memorized already but didn't tell him that. It felt good to lean against someone and feel the safety she had always wanted.

"Now try it on your own." Cloud said, releasing her and stepping back.

Kade attempted it and got it perfect on the first try. She smiled brightly, as Cloud applauded her. Cloud walked forwards and looked down at her, his blue eyes studying her face as she looked back at him with her unreadable expression and mysterious metallic eyes.

"You did well." He said quietly.

"Thank you." Kade said, just as quietly, looking into his beautiful eyes and fighting the urge to close the few centimeters of space between them to feel his arms around her again.

Cloud took a small step and lifted a hand to brush a stray strand of hair from her face and behind her ear. Their faces were so close it was all Kade could do to keep her heartbeat steady.

"Cloud!" Both turned just a little girl bolted into the room and collided with Cloud whose face turned a slight shade of pink and Kade turned scarlet.

Tifa walked in with a young boy and looked between Cloud and Kade, her eyes studying Kade for a moment before she laughed.

"Not interrupting anything are we?" Tifa asked.

If it was universally possible Kade blushed even more while Cloud rubbed the back of his neck and shifted slightly.

"No. Not at all." Cloud said in a clear lie.

"Is that so?" Tifa smirked at him and Kade. "Okay Marlene, Denzyl, I have someone I want you to meet."

Kade looked at the little brunette before her and then to the boy beside Tifa.

"Kade this is Marlene," Tifa gestured to the girl who was still clinging to Cloud. "And Denzyl." Denzyl raised his hand in greeting. "Marlene, Denzyl this is Kade."

Kade smiled warmly at them.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Vincent asked as he followed Kaia through the forest. She had parked her bike just off the road and was now walking on foot, absolutely silent. As was Vincent.

"I know where I'm going that doesn't mean you should." Kaia snapped. She had been irritable all day. Vincent had reason to believe it had something to do with getting up at 4:30 that morning.

"We're going to the Forgotten City aren't we?" Vincent asked, though he already knew the answer.

Kaia's silence was all the answer he needed.

"Why are we going?" He tried.

No answer.

_"Why does she have to be so damn secretive?" _Vincent thought bitterly.

They emerged from the cover of the trees and the lake of the Forgotten City lay before them. Kaia walked forwards slowly, relaxing as soon as she set foot on the abnormally smooth, dark, green grass.

Vincent watched her curiously as she moved forwards and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She opened her eyes slowly and she looked back at him over her shoulder, her blue hair blowing back from her face.

She turned back to the lake and then sat down, pulling her legs around to the side and brushing her fingertips over the blades of grass. Vincent was beginning to space out when she spoke.

"I never told you. Did I?"

"Told me what?" Vincent asked dully.

"About what really happened to me." She said quietly.

"You told me a little but I didn't understand half of it." Vincent replied.

"I suppose you want to know then." Vincent said nothing, a sign for her to continue.

"Cloud and I lived in a small town, Nebelheim. Our parents fought constantly and I was the strong one out of the two of us. I was the one who distracted Cloud when the arguments started. I was the one who dragged him outside to play when they started yelling. I took up sword fighting when I was nine and attempted to teach Cloud what I had learned each day. He wasn't very good, and couldn't care less about fighting."

Kaia hesitated, her bright eyes watching the flower she was twirling between her slender fingers.

"The fighting got worse and by the time I was twelve I couldn't take it any longer. I took my training sword with me when I ran the night of mine and Cloud's 12th birthday."

Vincent could only stare at her. He had never known Kaia to run from anything. As long as he had known her, she had been eager to tackle any challenge head on. Running away was, in Kaia's own words, a coward's way out.

"I ran as far as I could until I reached Midgar, when I was there I tried to find work. I had been taught never to steal from anyone else but I began to become a thief. And I won't say I was a bad one either." She smiled to herself. "Others who lived on the street saw me as a threat and I was constantly living in fear. Keeping my sword close at all times. That was when they found me." She paused.

"Shinra?" Vincent inquired.

"Yes. They found me fighting a group of people who had been trying to get at me for months. The two Turks jumped in and then offered me a place back at Shinra. I was too young to get work anywhere and everyone knew it, so I went with them. I met the director, Tseung, back when he had just been put in the position, and he permitted me to join the Turk's ranks as long as I went through extensive training."

"Sounds to me like you didn't need the training." Vincent noted.

"We were being trained to fight any creature that reeked havoc. Hojo's or otherwise. I passed well in the hand-to-hand combat but was a little off in the monster thing. I passed though. In fact, Reno and I were in the same training division. When both of us passed the exam we hardly saw each other. I was sent to do paperwork for the president of the company himself, and Reno was assigned to another group of Turks. We ended up becoming partners later on, but when SOLDIER was really starting to hit off, I took an interest in it. I had met Sephiroth once in passing, when Reno and I picked him and a team up from Wutai. And after that I was incredibly curious about how SOLDIER worked."

"And you just couldn't stay out of it." Vincent smirked.

"I prompted Tseung for a transfer and somehow I was granted. I went through training, in the division that Sephiroth was instructing actually. He didn't go easy on me, if anything he expected more from me than the others, possibly because of my Turk background. I was in the same division as two others, Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. They became my best friends and after our training, the three of us rose through the ranks very quickly. Although they made first while I was still a second, we still shared our bond. And upon having fought with Sephiroth on a mission all three of us were sent on together; we all formed a bond. One that strengthened between me and Sephiroth when I became a first."

"A bond? Sephiroth?" Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"Unbelievable but true all the same. I was something of an inspiration for the program. The only girl to be above the rank of the infantry. Rufus prompted his father, and Lazard to try to make an example of me, show me off and publicize me as the female equivalent of Sephiroth. Try to convince more people to enlist. Lazard talked him down, somehow, but rumors still circulated that I was the next Sephiroth. That if anything happened to him I would become General. It was false of course, Angeal was Lieutenant so he would have been promoted before myself or the other commander."

"So you made commander?"

"Yeah. My fellow commander, Genesis. He and I made rising in the ranks a competition between us from day one of training. He beat me to third class, I beat him to second, and then he managed to beat me to first. He never did let me forget that. Sephiroth was my mentor though, no matter how close I was with the other two."

"Wait. Cloud was going to try to get into SOLDIER, did you and he ever meet?" Vincent asked.

"You know this isn't hair dye." Kaia said flicking a strand of blue. "The mako injections took their toll on me, supposedly because they were never designed for females, and when Cloud showed up it was solid blue. My eyes were blue/green then as well so he didn't recognize me at all. Sephiroth kept us up to date for high priority missions so we didn't have much time to mingle with infantry. The man that eventually began to mentor Cloud though, Zack, he knew we were related. He and I were close too, mostly because he was Angeal's student. He was also one of the few below our authority and our director that knew my actual name. Where Genesis was nicknamed the Crimson Commander, I was the Sapphire one. Zack kept telling me over and over that I should tell Cloud the truth. But I never got around to it. After he and Zack got hurt when Sephiroth went off the deep end and deserted the company, I was the only first left. At first I went to go looking for Sephiroth, since the other two had defected before then, but I failed, and got a call from Tseung about Cloud and Zack being pursued. I got to where they were too late, and only got to speak to Zack one last time, after which I finally did tell Cloud who I was. The same day I got my wing."

"Did you ever find him?" Vincent pressed."Sephiroth that is?"

"Oh I found him. He wasn't as crazy as they had said he was, he was just fed up with everything. I barely understood any of what he told me but he did say that he needed me safe. Here is where I finally found him. The same place that he proposed to me two weeks prior."

Kaia stood up and walked to the waters edge looking down into the mirror like surface, her eyes hidden from Vincent. But as he watched a single tear fell from her face and hit the surface of the water, creating a ripple that expanded to the far edges of the lake.

Both were silent for a while until Kaia turned back to him, her face completely devoid of emotion, save for her eyes that were sparkling with unshed tears. Her blue hair drifted around her as she turned to look out across the water.

"We were standing in this very place when he tried to convince me he was fighting for what was right. For mother. And this is where we fought. I don't know who won that battle, I had a gift of the goddess granted to me to try to wake him up, but I still don't know that it worked. I doubt that it did. He said he would come for me, but….,"

Vincent recognized the sadness in her voice as what he felt and was reminded again, how much he and the young blunette warrior had in common.

"He was so different though. He turned into someone completely different than the man I loved. I hate to say it but I began to fear him. Both his strength, his insanity, and whatever emotional hold he would have over me if he ever came back. And so I returned to Banora, Genesis had gifted his parent's estate to me since I was the only one of us left. I helped rebuild the town from the ground up, and I've never looked back." She smiled walking forwards and looking up at him. "So care to tell me your life story?"

"No." He said pointedly.

"Oh, please. Do you have to be so antisocial? I mean come on you barely talk to anyone besides Cloud and-," She paused, seeing something on the shore of the lake. It was a cell phone. "Cloud's phone." She walked over to it and picked it up before pocketing it. "Anyways where was I?" She turned back to Vincent just in time to see an evil smirk spreading across his features.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own only Kade and Kaia. Square Enix owns everything else. **

"Hey, Cloud? Can I ask you something?" Denzyl asked as they all sat in the living room that evening.

"Sure." Cloud replied, more or less throwing down the Gameboy he had been trying to beat all day.

"What were you and Kade doing when we got home today?" Denzyl asked.

The book Kade had been reading fell to the floor with a thud.

"W-what do you mean?" Cloud asked, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Yeah Cloud, you were standing really close together and weren't saying anything, and when you did it was quiet." Marlene put in.

Tifa raised an eyebrow, "That's actually a pretty good question Cloud, care to enlighten us?"

"Um well I-," Cloud stuttered.

"I was trying to teach him a dance I learned when I was young." Kade said suddenly. Everyone stared at here. "I didn't get anything into his head but I tried."

"You attempted to teach Cloud to dance?" Tifa asked, barely finishing her sentence before she and Yuffie were overcome with laughter.

The door crashed open downstairs and they heard the unmistakable sound of Kaia's aggravated voice. She appeared in the doorway, sopping wet and seething with Vincent right behind her.

They all stared at her shocked. She glared at everyone in the room and they all saw Vincent smirk.

"I still say you deserved it." Vincent said.

Kaia glared even more.

"Kaia what happened?" Tifa asked.

Kaia pointed a menacing finger at Vincent. "He threw me in the lake at the Forgotten City! Do you have any idea how rancid that water is now?"

"Actually I think it cleared up after you got out of it."

"Oh great! So the geostigma is all over my coat now. That's wonderful." Kaia glowered at the vampire looking man in front of her.

"Why were you at the Forgotten City?" Cloud asked trying not to crack up like everyone else was.

"None of your concern." Kaia snapped throwing his phone at him.

"Hey where did you find this?" A bullet whizzed past his ear and he looked up at the gun. "Isn't that Vincent's gun?"

"She took that as payback and won't give it back." Vincent muttered.

"I'll give it back when you stop being so antisocial." Kaia said stubbornly.

Vincent disappeared on the spot.

"That's what I thought." Kaia said smugly spinning the gun around in her hand.

Vincent suddenly appeared behind her and reached around her waist pulling her against him with one arm and snatching the gun away with the other hand.

"And I would advise you not to do that again." Vincent said.

"Or what?" Kaia demanded.

"I might just have you as a midnight snack." Vincent replied against her ear brushing his lips over her neck before vanishing again.

Kaia looked enraged and stalked out of the room muttering a mass of obscenities and a good deal of insults towards vampires of all sorts. Everyone looked at each other before they all burst out laughing again.

Cloud leaned against the doorway of Kade's room and watched her try and get her hair to lie flat. It wasn't working.

"Nice save." He said, announcing his presence. "Though I must say Yuffie will be lucky if she can ever be serious again."

"Well I had to say something didn't I?" Kade said curtly. "It didn't look like you were about to come up with anything."

"So how does this so called 'dance' go?" Cloud asked walking further into the room.

Kade smiled shyly. "I was hoping you could tell me."

"You mean you've never seen the dance before?" Cloud kidded, stepping closer to her.

"I might be saying that. Or maybe I'm not." Kade said smirking.

Cloud looked very confused and Kade had to admit he still managed to look good somehow.

"Just shut up and kiss me you moron." Kade muttered only a few moments before Cloud's lips met hers.

**Little shorter but you all will have to live with it for now :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Longer one for you since the last one was so short lived lol **

**Disclaimer: Own only my OCs. And they ARE mine. **

Two months had passed since Kade and Cloud had admitted their feelings for each other. Kaia and Vincent however…were seemingly a lost cause, and Yuffie was not helping matters. Bugging the two as much as possible, the teenaged ninja had come face to face with Kaia's Black Mirage more than once.

Kaia herself was constantly locked in her room or was gone to the Forgotten City. Periodically Vincent went with her but most of the time she was by herself and everyone chose to leave her alone.

Kade sighed and leaned against Cloud as he fought against the Gameboy. Or as he had dubbed it; 'the stupid piece of shit that thinks it's smarter than me.' And infuriated growl escaped his lips and Kade glanced up at him curiously just in time to see the small gaming device go flying across the room. She blinked a few times before closing her eyes and attempting to relax.

It didn't work out. No sooner had she started to doze off, Cloud attempted to get up to get the device back. Kade grumbled her protest and he paused, looking down at her. Rolling his eyes he leaned back and pulled her against his chest.

"You should consider sleeping at night." He murmured against her ear.

Kade grumbled something that was anything but english, and curled up in a ball against him. Cloud laughed slightly and one steel gray eye opened to peer up at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just look really cute when you're tired and annoyed." Cloud replied.

Kade glared. "I'm just bored." She shut her eyes again.

"You feel up to going to a club? I hear one just opened." Cloud asked.

Kade's eyes opened and Cloud saw a flash of mischief in them. The both stood up and headed downstairs.

"Where are you two going?" Kaia asked as Cloud and Kade started out the door.

"New club. You and Vincent should come." Cloud kidded, and then darted out the door as a bullet embedded itself in the doorframe near his head.

Tifa looked up from where she was wiping off another table. The bar had just closed for the night and Kaia hadn't moved from her seat at the table in the corner in almost 6 hours. She had even fought off the group of Turks who attempted to get back 'their' table.

Kaia sent a scathing look after her brother and picked up another manila folder from the stack on the table next to her, spinning the black straw sticking out of her glass absent mindedly. She lifted the glass to her lips as Tifa spoke.

"I personally think you're jealous."

Kaia choked on her glass of water and began coughing. When she had recovered she gave Tifa a very confused look. "Jealous? Of what?"

"Oh don't play stupid. You're jealous of Kade and Cloud aren't you?" Tifa told her, pointing an accusing fork at her.

"You're kidding? Right?" One blue eyebrow had risen.

"Hmm. You must be in denial." Tifa muttered.

"Don't tell me she won't admit it either." Yuffie said walking down the stairs and into the bar.

"Nope she's denying it all. Poor girl." Tifa smiled sadly at Kaia who was beginning to look annoyed.

"That means both of them are. I tried to get an answer from Vincent and he threatened to throw me off the roof." Yuffie complained.

Kaia's left eye twitched. "What are you two up to?"

"Kaia, we know you and Vincent have feelings for each other." Tifa said gently.

Both of Kaia's eyebrows rose and she suddenly started laughing uncontrollably and nearly fell out of her chair.

"Me? And the anti-people vampire?" She gasped, attempting to calm herself.

Tifa and Yuffie traded glances.

"This is ridiculous." Tifa said, marching out of the room and up the stairs. She returned a few moments later half dragging Vincent, who looked more moody than usual.

Tifa put her hands on her hips and glared at the pair of them. "Alright you two. If you don't have feelings for each other as you claim to, fight to the death. Right now."

In all sensibility…that probably wasn't the best idea.

Kaia and Vincent looked at each other, then at Yuffie and Tifa….and then lunged for one another.

As Kaia attempted a well-aimed spin kick, Vincent sidestepped and grabbed her ankle and threw her across the room, but not before she was able to pull out her gun and fire a few bullets in her wake.

Kaia landed hard against a table, knocking it over, and had to dive behind it as Vincent started shooting at her. Using the table as cover, she rose up enough to fire the Black Mirage at him as it finished forming into a fully automatic weapon, and then ducked down again as a bullet tore past the wood near her ear.

Yuffie and Tifa jumped behind the bar looked at one another in mixed horror.

"What have you done?" Yuffie asked.

"I didn't think they would attack each other!" Tifa protested.

"Think about who you're talking about here! Even if they were in love they would still try to kill each other." Yuffie reminded her. "Where's Cloud when we need him?"

"He and Kade left a few minutes ago to go to that new club that just opened." Tifa said, then added angrily. "It's been taking all my business lately."

Yuffie jumped and let out a small scream as bullets tore into the mirror behind the bar and Kaia landed on her back next to them, reloading her gun.

"Would you two cut it out!" Tifa yelled over the sound of shattering glass.

"I'll stop when he does." Kaia panted, finishing her reload and springing up onto the top of the bar and started shooting again.

"She's going to get shot." Yuffie squealed.

"This had got to stop." Tifa said angrily.

"You're welcome to stop them but I'm staying out of it." Yuffie told her defiantly.

"What the hell is going on here!" Cloud yelled over the gunfire as he and Kade walked back in almost six hours later.

Apart from all the broken glass and the overturned tables and chairs, not to mention scattered papers from Kaia's research, the bar didn't look to bad. But at the middle of it all were Kaia and Vincent, who still hadn't run out of ammo.

"Shit!" Cloud yelled as the Kaia started shooting at Vincent who had his back to Cloud and Kade. Pulling the black haired girl behind him, Cloud darted behind a table and pulled Kade down next to him.

"What are they doing?" Kade called over the noise.

"That's what I'd like to know." Cloud growled. "I swear I can't leave for 5 minutes without hell breaking loose."

"I have an idea." Kade said pulling a simple black handgun off her belt.

Cloud's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

"Kaia gave it to me and told me to use it on you if you tried anything." Kade replied then looked up at the ceiling. "How many lights do you think are in here?"

Cloud glanced up at the florescent lights. "I don't know about 10 or 11. Why?"

"Just watch." Kade told him and turned around and aimed. She fired the first shot and hit the light that was at least 15 feet away.

"Who taught you how to shoot!" Cloud asked incredulously.

"Who do you think?" Kade asked, before finishing off the other lights. Except for the one directly above them and the only thing lighting Kaia and Vincent.

"Give me that and shield your eyes." Cloud took the gun from her and pointed it upwards before pulling Kade against him and firing. The light shattered and they were showered with glass, and shrouded in darkness. The gunfire ceased immediately.

"Cloud! The dark is where Kaia and Vincent practically live." They heard Tifa yell.

"Damn." Cloud muttered.

The next morning found Kade and Cloud curled up in a single ball with their faces hidden against each other, Tifa and Yuffie asleep behind the bar with plastic tubs over their heads, and Kaia and Vincent behind tables on two opposite ends of the room both breathing heavily.

"Shit." Vincent said irritably.

"You all out of bullets?" Kaia called, applying pressure to the bullet hole in her shoulder.

"I'm not about to tell you that." Vincent snapped.

"This is fun we should do this more often." Kaia said, her sarcasm evident.

"How's your shoulder?" Vincent asked.

"I'll live." Kaia replied. "What about your leg?" Indeed the Black Mirage had put a bullet in the back of Vincent's lower leg, miraculously at the same time he had shot her left shoulder.

"It'll heal in a few hours once I get the bullet out." Vincent told her. "So do you think they believe we hate each other yet?"

"Probably not. Not Yuffie at least. She's too stubborn." Kaia reminded him.

"Got that right. I'm just glad she gave up on getting me a few years ago." Vincent said, a slight hint of emotion in his voice. Though not kind emotion.

"All the better for me huh?" Kaia joked.

"You wish." Vincent shot back.

Kaia laughed. "How is it that the only time we ever actually talk is when we're trying to kill each other?"

"Good question." Vincent replied then paused. "Wait a minute. What other time have we fought?"

Kaia was about to reply when the bell over the door jingled and Reno and Rude walked in.

"Hey what's- Holy Meteor what happened here?" Reno looked awestruck as he surveyed the damage. There were newly burned scorch marks on the ceiling, floor, and walls that were still smoldering slightly.

"Looks like someone got in a fight." Rude commented.

"Kaia! You here!" Reno called.

"Present." Kaia waved her hand above the edge of her table. Vincent sat up and shot at it, though missed by a few inches.

Kaia swore loudly. "I thought you were out of bullets."

"I never _told you_ I was. You only assumed it." Vincent replied.

"You two are the cause of all this?" Reno asked, perplexed.

"Of course they are." Cloud said as he and Kade stood up shaking glass and wood chips from their hair.

"Who else do you think could do all this?" Tifa pointed out as she and Yuffie appeared.

"It looks like the Lifestream ripped through here." Rude commented.

"I'm starting to wonder if it did." Tifa said then looked at Vincent and Kaia's tables. "Oh come on you two. Can you break it up now? So we can all get some rest without having to jam cotton balls in our ears to block out the guns?"

"Kaia's out of ammo." Vincent called.

Machine gun fire ripped through the silence and Vincent muttered several very crude words that would cause the rating of this Fan Fiction to increase dramatically.

"Where the hell did you get a machine gun?" Cloud growled.

"Good question." Kaia said standing up and looking at the weapon she was now holding, though her Black Mirage was still strapped tightly to her chest. Her right arm had blue glowing tendrils drifting around it in a way that Cloud immediately recognized and obviously so did Reno and Rude who whipped out their nightsticks.

Cloud stepped in front of Kade who looked fascinated by the glow, and saw Tifa and Yuffie gazing at him quizzically while Vincent stayed firmly behind his table, wary of the new weapon in Kaia's possession.

Kaia glanced down at her arm and her eyes widened in awe as she raised it to look at it more closely. Her eyes were ignited by it and Reno and Rude could have sworn they saw her pupils slit, and her eyes take on a green hue in the strange light.

"This must be from that materia." Kaia whispered.

"What materia?" Cloud asked.

"I found a materia at the Forgotten City. I picked it up and it sank into my hand on its own. I haven't thought about it until now. I was meaning to ask Yuffie about it."

"You did what!" Cloud erupted. "Didn't the Turks teach you not to go picking up materia and playing with them!"

"I wasn't playing with it, I was inspecting it! And Turks aren't supposed to use materia!" Kaia told him pointedly.

"Great just great. The materia Kadaj and his group got their hands on, has found it's way back to me." Cloud muttered, turning to Kade. "Come on, let's go get some actual sleep." Kade continued to stare at the blue tendrils even as Cloud pulled her upstairs.

**R&R**


	9. Chapter 9

**Diclaimer: I own nothing. At least nothing besides Kaia and Kade. Unfortunately all the other characters belong to Square Enix. If not, Genesis wouldnt have died, and neither would have Zack. **

Two months had passed since Kade and Cloud had admitted their feelings for each other. Kaia and Vincent however…were seemingly a lost cause, and Yuffie was not helping matters. Bugging the two as much as possible, the teenaged ninja had come face to face with Kaia's Black Mirage more than once.

Kaia herself was constantly locked in her room or was gone to the Forgotten City. Periodically Vincent went with her but most of the time she was by herself and everyone chose to leave her alone.

Kade sighed and leaned against Cloud as he fought against the Gameboy. Or as he had dubbed it; 'the stupid piece of shit that thinks it's smarter than me.' And infuriated growl escaped his lips and Kade glanced up at him curiously just in time to see the small gaming device go flying across the room. She blinked a few times before closing her eyes and attempting to relax.

It didn't work out. No sooner had she started to doze off, Cloud attempted to get up to get the device back. Kade grumbled her protest and he paused, looking down at her. Rolling his eyes he leaned back and pulled her against his chest.

"You should consider sleeping at night." He murmured against her ear.

Kade grumbled something that was anything but english, and curled up in a ball against him. Cloud laughed slightly and one steel gray eye opened to peer up at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just look really cute when you're tired and annoyed." Cloud replied.

Kade glared. "I'm just bored." She shut her eyes again.

"You feel up to going to a club? I hear one just opened." Cloud asked.

Kade's eyes opened and Cloud saw a flash of mischief in them. The both stood up and headed downstairs.

"Where are you two going?" Kaia asked as Cloud and Kade started out the door.

"New club. You and Vincent should come." Cloud kidded, and then darted out the door as a bullet embedded itself in the doorframe near his head.

Tifa looked up from where she was wiping off another table. The bar had just closed for the night and Kaia hadn't moved from her seat at the table in the corner in almost 6 hours. She had even fought off the group of Turks who attempted to get back 'their' table.

Kaia sent a scathing look after her brother and picked up another manila folder from the stack on the table next to her, spinning the black straw sticking out of her glass absent mindedly. She lifted the glass to her lips as Tifa spoke.

"I personally think you're jealous."

Kaia choked on her glass of water and began coughing. When she had recovered she gave Tifa a very confused look. "Jealous? Of what?"

"Oh don't play stupid. You're jealous of Kade and Cloud aren't you?" Tifa told her, pointing an accusing fork at her.

"You're kidding? Right?" One blue eyebrow had risen.

"Hmm. You must be in denial." Tifa muttered.

"Don't tell me she won't admit it either." Yuffie said walking down the stairs and into the bar.

"Nope she's denying it all. Poor girl." Tifa smiled sadly at Kaia who was beginning to look annoyed.

"That means both of them are. I tried to get an answer from Vincent and he threatened to throw me off the roof." Yuffie complained.

Kaia's left eye twitched. "What are you two up to?"

"Kaia, we know you and Vincent have feelings for each other." Tifa said gently.

Both of Kaia's eyebrows rose and she suddenly started laughing uncontrollably and nearly fell out of her chair.

"Me? And the anti-people vampire?" She gasped, attempting to calm herself.

Tifa and Yuffie traded glances.

"This is ridiculous." Tifa said, marching out of the room and up the stairs. She returned a few moments later half dragging Vincent, who looked more moody than usual.

Tifa put her hands on her hips and glared at the pair of them. "Alright you two. If you don't have feelings for each other as you claim to, fight to the death. Right now."

In all sensibility…that probably wasn't the best idea.

Kaia and Vincent looked at each other, then at Yuffie and Tifa….and then lunged for one another.

As Kaia attempted a well-aimed spin kick, Vincent sidestepped and grabbed her ankle and threw her across the room, but not before she was able to pull out her gun and fire a few bullets in her wake.

Kaia landed hard against a table, knocking it over, and had to dive behind it as Vincent started shooting at her. Using the table as cover, she rose up enough to fire the Black Mirage at him as it finished forming into a fully automatic weapon, and then ducked down again as a bullet tore past the wood near her ear.

Yuffie and Tifa jumped behind the bar looked at one another in mixed horror.

"What have you done?" Yuffie asked.

"I didn't think they would attack each other!" Tifa protested.

"Think about who you're talking about here! Even if they were in love they would still try to kill each other." Yuffie reminded her. "Where's Cloud when we need him?"

"He and Kade left a few minutes ago to go to that new club that just opened." Tifa said, then added angrily. "It's been taking all my business lately."

Yuffie jumped and let out a small scream as bullets tore into the mirror behind the bar and Kaia landed on her back next to them, reloading her gun.

"Would you two cut it out!" Tifa yelled over the sound of shattering glass.

"I'll stop when he does." Kaia panted, finishing her reload and springing up onto the top of the bar and started shooting again.

"She's going to get shot." Yuffie squealed.

"This had got to stop." Tifa said angrily.

"You're welcome to stop them but I'm staying out of it." Yuffie told her defiantly.

"What the hell is going on here!" Cloud yelled over the gunfire as he and Kade walked back in almost six hours later.

Apart from all the broken glass and the overturned tables and chairs, not to mention scattered papers from Kaia's research, the bar didn't look to bad. But at the middle of it all were Kaia and Vincent, who still hadn't run out of ammo.

"Shit!" Cloud yelled as the Kaia started shooting at Vincent who had his back to Cloud and Kade. Pulling the black haired girl behind him, Cloud darted behind a table and pulled Kade down next to him.

"What are they doing?" Kade called over the noise.

"That's what I'd like to know." Cloud growled. "I swear I can't leave for 5 minutes without hell breaking loose."

"I have an idea." Kade said pulling a simple black handgun off her belt.

Cloud's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

"Kaia gave it to me and told me to use it on you if you tried anything." Kade replied then looked up at the ceiling. "How many lights do you think are in here?"

Cloud glanced up at the florescent lights. "I don't know about 10 or 11. Why?"

"Just watch." Kade told him and turned around and aimed. She fired the first shot and hit the light that was at least 15 feet away.

"Who taught you how to shoot!" Cloud asked incredulously.

"Who do you think?" Kade asked, before finishing off the other lights. Except for the one directly above them and the only thing lighting Kaia and Vincent.

"Give me that and shield your eyes." Cloud took the gun from her and pointed it upwards before pulling Kade against him and firing. The light shattered and they were showered with glass, and shrouded in darkness. The gunfire ceased immediately.

"Cloud! The dark is where Kaia and Vincent practically live." They heard Tifa yell.

"Damn." Cloud muttered.

The next morning found Kade and Cloud curled up in a single ball with their faces hidden against each other, Tifa and Yuffie asleep behind the bar with plastic tubs over their heads, and Kaia and Vincent behind tables on two opposite ends of the room both breathing heavily.

"Shit." Vincent said irritably.

"You all out of bullets?" Kaia called, applying pressure to the bullet hole in her shoulder.

"I'm not about to tell you that." Vincent snapped.

"This is fun we should do this more often." Kaia said, her sarcasm evident.

"How's your shoulder?" Vincent asked.

"I'll live." Kaia replied. "What about your leg?" Indeed the Black Mirage had put a bullet in the back of Vincent's lower leg, miraculously at the same time he had shot her left shoulder.

"It'll heal in a few hours once I get the bullet out." Vincent told her. "So do you think they believe we hate each other yet?"

"Probably not. Not Yuffie at least. She's too stubborn." Kaia reminded him.

"Got that right. I'm just glad she gave up on getting me a few years ago." Vincent said, a slight hint of emotion in his voice. Though not kind emotion.

"All the better for me huh?" Kaia joked.

"You wish." Vincent shot back.

Kaia laughed. "How is it that the only time we ever actually talk is when we're trying to kill each other?"

"Good question." Vincent replied then paused. "Wait a minute. What other time have we fought?"

Kaia was about to reply when the bell over the door jingled and Reno and Rude walked in.

"Hey what's- Holy Meteor what happened here?" Reno looked awestruck as he surveyed the damage. There were newly burned scorch marks on the ceiling, floor, and walls that were still smoldering slightly.

"Looks like someone got in a fight." Rude commented.

"Kaia! You here!" Reno called.

"Present." Kaia waved her hand above the edge of her table. Vincent sat up and shot at it, though missed by a few inches.

Kaia swore loudly. "I thought you were out of bullets."

"I never _told you_ I was. You only assumed it." Vincent replied.

"You two are the cause of all this?" Reno asked, perplexed.

"Of course they are." Cloud said as he and Kade stood up shaking glass and wood chips from their hair.

"Who else do you think could do all this?" Tifa pointed out as she and Yuffie appeared.

"It looks like the Lifestream ripped through here." Rude commented.

"I'm starting to wonder if it did." Tifa said then looked at Vincent and Kaia's tables. "Oh come on you two. Can you break it up now? So we can all get some rest without having to jam cotton balls in our ears to block out the guns?"

"Kaia's out of ammo." Vincent called.

Machine gun fire ripped through the silence and Vincent muttered several very crude words that would cause the rating of this Fan Fiction to increase dramatically.

"Where the hell did you get a machine gun?" Cloud growled.

"Good question." Kaia said standing up and looking at the weapon she was now holding, though her Black Mirage was still strapped tightly to her chest. Her right arm had blue glowing tendrils drifting around it in a way that Cloud immediately recognized and obviously so did Reno and Rude who whipped out their nightsticks.

Cloud stepped in front of Kade who looked fascinated by the glow, and saw Tifa and Yuffie gazing at him quizzically while Vincent stayed firmly behind his table, wary of the new weapon in Kaia's possession.

Kaia glanced down at her arm and her eyes widened in awe as she raised it to look at it more closely. Her eyes were ignited by it and Reno and Rude could have sworn they saw her pupils slit, and her eyes take on a green hue in the strange light.

"This must be from that materia." Kaia whispered.

"What materia?" Cloud asked.

"I found a materia at the Forgotten City. I picked it up and it sank into my hand on its own. I haven't thought about it until now. I was meaning to ask Yuffie about it."

"You did what!" Cloud erupted. "Didn't the Turks teach you not to go picking up materia and playing with them!"

"I wasn't playing with it, I was inspecting it! And Turks aren't supposed to use materia!" Kaia told him pointedly.

"Great just great. The materia Kadaj and his group got their hands on, has found it's way back to me." Cloud muttered, turning to Kade. "Come on, let's go get some actual sleep." Kade continued to stare at the blue tendrils even as Cloud pulled her upstairs.

**Heh heh heh partial cliffhanger. What in the world could Kadaj want with Kaia? R&R**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Own nothing. 'Cept Kaia and Kade**

"Do you even know where you're going?" Tifa asked Cloud as they sped towards the Forgotten City.

"Believe it or not, yes I do." Cloud replied. "Vincent you still here?"

In response a red blur flashed across the road in front of them. Yuffie rode next to them on Kaia's motorcycle and was obviously having trouble taking the sharper turns.

They reached their destination and pulled up and parked near the edge of the trees. Vincent's ember like eyes glowing as they swept over the landscape before landing on a spot of grass and narrowing. Cloud noticed his moody friend stiffen beside him and looked at him.

"What is it?"

Instead of replying Vincent nodded in the direction he was looking and they both walked forwards. Kaia lay perfectly still on the damp grass, her skin paler than usual and her face calm and relaxed with her eyes closed. She looked quite comfortable on the grass and Cloud wondered why he felt as though he should leave her alone. She looked as though she was only sleeping.

Vincent knelt down beside her and placed his fingers to her neck. Cloud watched his sister's face, his eyes curious and yet angry. Vincent scooped Kaia easily into his arms and stood up, holding the young warrior with such care Tifa had to remind herself who it was that she was looking at.

"She's still alive."

"Take her back to the motorcycles. We'll take her when we leave." Cloud said. Even as he said it, Kaia stirred, her blue eyes fluttering open and her hand moving to her forehead.

"What the hell happened?" The blunette asked the group at large as Vincent set her back on her feet.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Cloud admitted.

"Cloud look." Tifa called. Cloud turned around to see the black hooded figure standing on the opposite shore. Anger flared in the crystalline orbs as his hands balled into fists.

"What have you done with Kade!" Cloud demanded, pulling the Buster Sword from its sheath.

"I'm glad you could make it." Kadaj mocked. "Sephiroth will be so pleased to have you here."

"Answer me Kadaj!" Cloud growled.

"Do you realize how much the two names sound alike?" Kadaj asked.

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.

"But Yuffie, surely you've noticed." Kadaj laughed softly just as the clouds above opened up and the group was quickly drenched.

"Noticed what?" Cloud was obviously losing his temper.

"My gods. I was right." Kaia breathed.

Kadaj lifted his hands to the hood over his face and threw it back to reveal black hair that fell just past the shoulders. The unveiled figure turned and Cloud froze.

"No." Tifa whispered.

Yuffie stared dead ahead of her, her eyes wide. Cloud shook his head slightly in disbelief. Vincent and Kaia looked a bit shaken but unsurprised.

"How could you do this?" Cloud asked when he had found his voice. "Why would you betray us, Kade."

"My name is Kadai, but for the sake of getting me confused with my brother, I prefer Kade. And I was never with you to begin with." As if on cue, Kade's hair began to turn silver until it shimmered as the raindrops fell on it. "Jenova told me to do what I had to in order to revive my brother and the remnants as well as Lord Sephiroth himself. And so I carried out her will."

"But why?" Yuffie asked.

"Why else? I was unaccustomed to the world from being in that tank at Shinra. I had only just gotten away and was not used to the fresh air here." Kade told them

"How could you betray me?" Cloud asked.

Even from across the lake, they all saw Kade's eyes soften as they became blue/green. "I'm sorry Cloud. Nothing was supposed to happen between us. I was foolish and allowed my human feelings to get to me. I'm not a cold hearted person and would have like to have caused as little pain as possible, but I couldn't help but grow attached to you. But the longer I stayed with you all, the deeper I got involved with you Cloud. And by the time I was to leave, it was too late to do it painlessly."

"We trusted you." Tifa said. "We allowed you to stay with us. Why would you do this? What do you hope to accomplish?"

Kade's eyes fell and she looked into the water before her. "It wasn't supposed to happen that way. I was only supposed to stay for a week at the most. I was to get a grip, come here and resurrect the fallen. No emotional attachments, no emotions at all. Only focus on the mission is what she told me to do."

"And we were in your way. We were pushed aside so that you could carry out a battle plan." Kaia noted bitterly.

"I don't have to listen to this." Kade muttered angrily. "I betrayed you all, allowed myself to feel emotions. You all hate me. Or at least you should." A single tear fell from her still downcast eyes and hit the surface of the lake only to be lost in the rain.

"You ready to punch her lights out?" Kaia growled, starting forwards.

Vincent grabbed her around her shoulders and made sure she didn't move.

"Now then." Kade turned back to pull something from a black bag on the ground at her feet, and appeared again with a black wooden flute in her right hand as she used her left hand to grip her cloak tightly before wrenching it to the side and pulling it free of her body and revealing the black outfit underneath.

She was dressed in a pair of tight black pants and a cropped t-shirt that clung to her figure. And at her waist hung a sword that Kaia recognized as a rare Black Revenge. A sword Kaia herself, had never been able to get her hands on.

Kade gazed malevolently at the group before her. "Hope you're ready for my reunion. Bet your dying to watch." She raised the flute to her lips and began to play.

The song was sad and mournful, reminding Cloud subconsciously of every pain he had ever experienced in his life. The others were evidentially feeling the same way for none of them looked focused at the moment, like they were all being put into a trance.

Kaia's spacing out came to an abrupt end though when a large piece of hail hit her square in the head. Swearing loudly, Kaia began yelling at the sky, knocking everyone else out of his or her trances as well.

Vincent drew up the hood of his cloak before placing a hand over Kaia's mouth and pulling her against him to shield her from future pieces of ice that would provoke her to try to kill the clouds.

Yuffie and Tifa were huddled underneath Yuffie's shuriken while Cloud held the buster sword over his head. Lightning flashed within the clouds overhead and Yuffie looked up and cried out in surprise. The others followed her gaze and Kaia bit back a scream and shrank back against Vincent as her eyes landed on the four shadowy figures hovering above them.

As they watched, the four drifted down until they were all standing on the shore behind Kade. Another flash of lightning illuminated the scene before them and they saw Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, and Sephiroth standing upon the opposing shore.

"No." Kaia whispered breathlessly, the terror and disbelief evident in her voice. Vincent tightened his arms around her as she began to shake but to no avail, it was as though she was freezing to death from the inside out.

Kade held the final note on her flute and opened her eyes her flute disappearing in a flurry of what looked like blue fire. She turned and fell to one knee before Sephiroth who was standing directly behind her.

"Welcome back, Sephiroth." She said clearly.

**R&R**


	11. Chapter 11

**Diclaimer: Own only Kaia and Kade.**

**It's winding down... hehehehehe **

"What's wrong with her?" Yuffie asked Vincent, obviously forgetting that the worse person in existence, second only to Jenova, was standing not 1000 feet away.

"Kaia?" The vampire inquired of the young blunette who was as pale as a ghost. She didn't reply but watched Sephiroth unblinkingly.

"You have my gratitude my remnant." Sephiroth said to Kade, indicating for her to rise, which she did, and stand behind him next to her brother. "You waited until the day mother told you to act. Very loyal indeed. I see you brought friends with you."

"My apologies my lord." Kade said bitterly. "They followed me, accusing me of being Kadaj."

"A common error." Sephiroth smirked. "However not all are unwelcome."

"Sir?" All four remnants asked at the same moment.

"Kaia Strife. After all these years I finally find you again." Sephiroth called across the lake. "You, a remnant of my mother as well as I, the only person worthy to stand _beside _me. And yet…" His eyes traveled over each member of Kaia's party. "You choose to stand with the very people who are against me."

Kaia did not reply, and took a step back against Vincent. Her eyes filling with utter horror.

"Kaia do not fear me. Come here." Sephiroth said smoothly, his tone slightly more gentle than before.

Kaia tried to curl into a ball in Vincent's arms while still standing up, only to find it didn't work well.

"Kaia, go." Vincent murmured in her ear.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed.

"You once loved him. Go to him now." Vincent told her calmly. "We are not to affect your decision."

Kaia looked up into his blood red eyes and then slowly pulled away from him, her blue hair slipping through his fingers from where he had been holding her head against his chest.

She walked forwards boldly, her head held high as her black coat rustled in the wind and swirled out behind her.

"Kaia!" Cloud yelled out.

Kaia paused and Vincent shot Cloud a dirty look. She didn't turn around though. Only turned her head back in his direction, only her right eye resting on him.

"I'm sorry brother, but my place is not at your side." Kaia's voice was close to being emotionless, but Vincent recognized it for what it really was. She was making herself as emotionless as possible, because it was breaking her heart to walk away from them and she would not stand to let anyone see her cry.

"Kaia." Yuffie said softly, watching Kaia approach the water's edge and step into the black water.

"What's happening?" Tifa asked, gripping Cloud's arm tightly as Kaia's foot rested on the surface of the water and didn't go through it as she took another step. She was walking over the top of the water as though it was solid beneath her feet.

"I think Sephiroth is doing it." Cloud whispered. "Kaia. Kaia! KAIA!" But she didn't stop or even seem to hear him. She reached the shore and stood in front of Sephiroth, her posture never changing.

"A drink of this water should revive you." Sephiroth said quietly.

Kaia turned and knelt at the water's edge, scooping water into her cupped hands.

"Kaia no! The water is infested with Geostigma!" Cloud yelled.

Kaia paid him no attention, but brought her hands upwards to her lips and poured the water into her mouth before standing up. She opened her closed eyes and Cloud and his group saw her eyes take on an even brighter mako green and her hair slowly turned a very light light blue.

Cloud gaped at her. "You're her. You're not just the Sapphire Commander from SOLDIER, you're the same female SOLDIER that it was rumored Sephiroth was involved with! Why didn't I see it before?"

"Because you were to blinded by your hatred towards me." Sephiroth said, as Kaia took her place beside him, the remnants behind her peering at her curiously.

"Who is she to Sephiroth?" Loz asked Yazoo.

Yazoo shrugged.

"Both of you shut up." Kade and Kadaj snapped at the same time.

"I hate it when they do that." Loz muttered.

"You know Kade's kind of cute." Yazoo said under his breath.

Loz raised an eyebrow. "Kadaj would kill you."

"Shut up." Kade hissed, her voice venomous.

Loz and Yazoo looked back at what was happening in front of them.

"Vincent why did you let her go over there!" Cloud was yelling at the red clothed vampire who looked like he was ignoring him.

"Cloud leave him alone." Tifa chided him. "We have other matters to deal with."

"But he just let her-,"

"Kade, kill Cloud." Sephiroth said to the newer remnant, who looked back at him with wide eyes before she retained her emotionless air once more and nodded once, before springing off and out of sight for the moment. "Kaia kill Vincent."

Kaia's expression never changed as her gaze turned on her target and she seemed to size up the situation. Her eyes suddenly changed, losing their green hue. Sephiroth's own green catlike eyes narrowed.

"I should have known." He whispered.

Kaia suddenly lunged at him and he narrowly avoided her attack, vanishing into the shadows as he did. Pulling out her gun she fired at him until a bullet skimmed over her arm and she dropped it. Swearing, Kaia turned to see the three other remnants watching her, Yazoo's gun smoking.

"You'll have to go through us first." Kadaj said, drawing his sword and pointing it at her. Loz bent his knees slightly and lunged at her his dual hound at the ready. Kaia easily sidestepped him and he ended up falling into the lake.

Fighting back his laughter, Kadaj lunged at her while Yazoo started shooting again. Kaia's eyes slit at the two and she leapt into the air, pulling out her sword and landing almost on top of Kadaj who jumped backwards, tripped, and rolled away to avoid her. Yazoo continued to shoot at her and she flicked her wrist sending a shuriken flying at him.

Yazoo leaned away from it and it soared past him. "Ha! Missed!"

"Did I now?" Kaia smirked. "I'll have you know those shurikens have a tendency to follow their target until they kill it, or are destroyed while attempting to kill it."

"What! Shit!" Yazoo turned just in time to see the shuriken coming at him. He leapt out of the way and started running for his life.

"Now then." Kaia turned to face Sephiroth who had reappeared, her blue hair swirling about her as his silver hair did the same. She lit off from the ground suddenly and Sephiroth leapt away.

"Kaia don't do this." Sephiroth said.

"Do what?" Kaia asked, lunging again her sword ready. "Retaliate against years of having no idea where you were? For not knowing a single thing?" Instead of raising the Masamune to block her attack, Sephiroth ducked down and knocked her feet out from under her. Kaia fell sideways and caught herself against a large boulder, but dropped her sword.

Sephiroth was suddenly in front of her his hands on her wrists holding them against the rock, his foot resting on both of hers so as to avoid being kicked. Kaia struggled against the iron grip he had on her wrists and amazingly felt it loosen slightly. But not enough for her to get away.

Kaia stopped moving and leaned back against the rock. "Why haven't you killed me yet? We both know you could do it right now without any trouble at all."

"Because Kaia, I can't kill you. And if you remembered all that happened before you would know why." Sephiroth told her, his green gaze boring into her.

Kaia looked slightly taken aback. "But you- when we were here last time, you were insane. Emotionless. When Cloud fought you he said-,"

"Of course I was emotionless when I was fighting him. I had to be. Had he figured out that I wasn't an emotionless demon it would have made him even more determined. Not that I couldn't have beaten him anyways." Sephiroth said.

"You never…returned." Kaia said looking away. "I'll admit I gave up on you. And after what everyone said, I thought that you had lost it completely. That you were as dangerous and possessed as they said."

"I wouldn't have expected any less from you."

**R&R**


	12. Chapter 12

**Diclaimer: I don't own ****anything except my OCs**

"What is going on with those two?" Yazoo asked. He had finally run the shuriken into a tree and it had blown up.

"No idea." Kadaj said, as he twisted his hair around in his hands, wringing the water out of it, since he had been forced to dive into the water and save Yazoo..

"If I didn't know better I would say there was some kind of lost relationship." Loz added.

"Don't be an idiot." Yazoo scolded him.

"Kaia get away from him!" Cloud yelled. He could see his sister and his enemy clearly from where he and his friends were standing.

"Cloud, leave them alone." Vincent told him.

"What is wrong with her? You'd think she was in love with him with the way she's acting now." Yuffie said.

"Vincent. What do you know about this?" Cloud rounded on the vampire.

"Nothing I'm going to tell you." Vincent replied.

"Wait a minute. There was a rumor when I was in SOLDIER that Sephiroth and Sapphire were involved. It must have been true." Cloud said suddenly.

"Sapphire? The weapon?" Tifa asked.

"That was what we all called the Sapphire Commander. No one knew her real name. That is, no one except Sephiroth and the other firsts." Cloud reported. "Kaia for the last time, get away from him!"

"Must you always be in control?" Said a voice from behind them.

They all turned to face Kade as she emerged from the trees, her eyes glowing in the moonlight.

"Kade." Cloud whispered.

"I have an assignment to kill you. And as you know…I'm good about carrying out assignments." Kade said smoothly, her voice cold.

"Cloud look." Tifa pulled his arm and pointed to Sephiroth and Kaia.

"I can't ask for your forgiveness. And I know we can't pick up from where we left off, but I never stopped caring for you. I wanted to get to you so badly, but I couldn't." Sephiroth said softly.

"I just…. I was so hurt when we were here last. And angry with myself for throwing the ring away." Kaia looked away, but even then a chain was held up in front of her, a diamond ring with two sapphires set on either side of the diamond suspended on it.

"That's why I saved it. I'm not proposing again, we don't have to start back up. I just want you to know how much I truly care. No matter how long I've been gone." Sephiroth said quietly.

Kaia smiled and nodded, accepting the chain with the ring on it. "Thank you."

Sephiroth lifted her chin with his fingertips and kissed her.

Cloud looked as though he had just run a sword through his own chest. And after all the events that had taken place in the last hour, he was possibly considering it. First he was betrayed by the women he loved who turned out to be in league with his archenemy. And now, his twin sister was kissing said archenemy. Today sucked.

"I'm not going to fight you." Cloud said turning back to Kade.

She raised a silver eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I won't fight you. I still love you. No matter what, I always will." Cloud said. "Even if you did lie to me."

"I may have lied to you. But Cloud, I never break a promise." Kade said seriously. "And I am supposed to kill you. But I can't kill you unless you fight back. Or at least defend yourself."

"I'll do nothing of the sort." Cloud said stubbornly, taking his buster sword and running it into the ground.

Kade looked as though she was starting to get annoyed. "Cloud don't be an idiot. You want to fight me. There has to be some part of you that hates me. Let that part fight me so I can kill you and you won't have to live with it anymore." Kade's eyes seemed to put Cloud in a trance for a moment.

"Cloud! Don't listen to her." Tifa yelled, running to his side and shaking his shoulder. "Cloud!"

"What is she doing?" Kaia asked Sephiroth as the two stood together watching.

"Kade can hypnotize with her eyes. She's also telepathic so that only adds to it." Sephiroth replied.

"So she's hypnotizing Cloud into fighting her because she can't kill in cold blood?" Kaia was completely lost.

"That's correct." Sephiroth said.

"So she's not a cold blooded killer but she's your remnant? How does that work out?" Kaia glanced up at Sephiroth in time to see him glare at her. She smiled to herself, before looking back across and the smile faded.

"You can go back to them." Sephiroth said after a moment.

"What? How?" Kaia turned back to him.

"Lie to them. You've done it before am I right? I'll still love you all the same and you can stay in touch." Sephiroth told her.

"Are you sure?" Kaia asked.

Sephiroth nodded. "Go."

Kaia smiled softly. "I'll call you."

"You'd better." Sephiroth muttered.

Kaia started forwards when a sudden pain shot through her right arm, causing her to pause. She glanced down at it and suddenly heard the unmistakable voice of Jenova in her mind.

_"You won't get away that easily." _

"Shit." Kaia muttered, her eyes glazing over as she fought for control.

"Kaia?" Sephiroth questioned.

"Get the hell out of my mind." Kaia growled as she leapt across the water and landed behind Cloud pulling out her sword. "If you can't do it then I will." There was something different about her voice.

Cloud turned around and stared at his sister's glazed eyes. "Kaia what's wrong?"

Kaia's left eye suddenly cleared. "Cloud get away from me. It's-, Ahhhh!" her eyes glazed again and she lunged at him only for him to sidestep and her to fall over. She got back to her feet and grabbed her right arm, trying to push the sword down. It wasn't working.

"Jenova." Sephiroth whispered.

"What is this?" Kade looked slightly afraid but still stood her ground.

Kadaj and the other two appeared beside her, all three looking very confused.

"Stay away." Kaia cautioned them all, now beating her right arm with her left until she finally dropped the sword. Grabbing it up with her left hand she lifted it upwards and brought it down hard over her right arm.

"Kaia!" Cloud cried out.

Kaia's eyes cleared and she snapped her fingers on her left hand and her right arm, which lay at her feet, burned away within a matter of seconds. She looked up at them panting.

"There, now how the hell did I get here? And why the hell was I on that side of the lake?" Kaia was back to her old self.

"You mean you don't remember anything?" Yuffie asked.

"No." Kaia snapped looking at her right shoulder, which was bleeding, and grimacing. "Anyone care to fill me in?"

"You mean you didn't kiss Sephiroth of your own accord?" Cloud asked.

"I DID WHAT!?" Kaia yelled.

Sephiroth nodded to his remnants and the four of them turned and walked into the trees, Sephiroth himself following behind.

"You mean all that time it was Jenova controlling her?" Kade asked.

Sephiroth smirked. "No. Jenova started controlling her just as she was about to go back across the lake to her brother. She is lying to them as she has been for the past 3 years. I was allowing her to go back to them and tell them she was on their side, and obviously Mother didn't like it."

Vincent had glanced at Kaia's missing arm and cleared his throat. The others looked to it and stared. A shadowy shape of an arm was taking its place, winding down to form into a perfect replica of the real arm that was gone now. Kaia twisted her wrist and blinked repeatedly.

"Shadow arm. Cool."

**R&R!**


	13. Chapter 13

**.Last Chapter! :)) **

**Disclaimer: For the last freaking time... I OWN ONLY KAIA AND KADE SO STOP ASKING. **

**Kaia: No one did ask... **

**Audra: You hush. On with the final chapter!**

**Kaia: It's final fantasy. Seven to be exact. **

**Audra: QUIET!**

"What do you mean I kissed Sephiroth!" Kaia irrupted on the ride home. Since she had cut her own arm off, Cloud and Tifa had forced her to ride behind Yuffie, no matter how solid the shadowy limb she now had seemed..

"You did. Or he kissed you and you let him one of the two." Yuffie replied.

"That is so gross." Kaia looked as though she was about to pass out.

They pulled up in front of Seventh Heaven, Kaia still ranting.

"Kaia I need to treat that…um…gash that's between the two surfaces.." Tifa said searching for the term to describe Kaia's missing/new arm. "And would you care to explain to us how you came to meet Sephiroth?"

"Don't mind at all but you have to at least let me sit down inside first." Kaia said.

"Blood loss." Vincent said, more to himself than to her.

"Bet the smell of it is driving you nuts, isn't it?" Kaia said to the red obsessed vampire.

"No but you look like you're about to fall over." Vincent replied. "That or-," Before he was able to finish Kaia walked into the doorframe face first. "Should have spoken faster."

"I'm okay." Kaia said her eyes obviously unfocused. She stumbled backwards and was suddenly lifted off her feet as Vincent picked her up, only seconds before she lost all consciousness.

_"Kaia?" _

_That voice. It was so soft. So familiar. _

_Kaia's eyes opened looking up into a familiar pair of blue eyes framed by black hair. Her own blue orbs widened. _

_"Z-Zack?" She asked sitting up and massaging her head. He nodded. "Where am I?" She was lying in what looked like a solid white room. _

_"Inside your mind." Zack told her, offering her his hand and pulling her to her feet. _

_"But you're dead." She looked away. "Because of me. Because I-," _

_"Shhh." Zack placed two fingers over her lips to silence her, and she turned back to look at him. "I can't have both of the Strife twins blaming themselves." _

_"But it was my fault. If I hadn't gone on that mission to find Sephiroth, I would have gone with you and Cloud, and could have stopped you from being killed." Kaia protested, but stopped short when Zack, to her bewilderment, started laughing. She stared at him, trying, without much success, to figure out what he was laughing at. _

_"I'm sorry Kaia. Honestly. But I just find it funny that you say that. You loved Sephiroth. And from what I saw tonight, you still do. You had every reason to take on that mission. And hey, at least you came and talked to me before you left." He smiled down at her. _

_"I regret it. If I hadn't fallen in love with him then-," _

_"Kaia." Zack said sternly. "You should never regret falling in love with someone. If you hadn't had that fight with him, thing have been different yes. But not in a good way for the planet. I helped Aerith as a spirit. Had I not…there's no telling what condition the planet would be in now. You see Kaia? My sacrifice was required to save the planet. I'm glad my soul was useful and wouldn't have had it any other way." _

_"I never thought of it that way." Kaia said quietly. "But even if you hadn't died, Aerith could have stopped it. She was meant to after all." _

_"Kaia. Even with my help, she barely stopped him, and it killed her." Zack reminded her. _

_"Sephiroth killed her. Or did you forget that?" Kaia added. "Trust me Zack I know. I was there." _

_"You-, You were there?" Zack asked, suddenly looking surprised. _

_"I was." Kaia looked away again. "It was in my head. Back when Jenova was trying to get control over me. She brought it to my attention and I saw everything through Sephiroth's eyes. I was in control of him for those few moments. And she convinced me it was ok. I killed her, and woke up immediately. Knowing it was real. I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened, and I deserve the worst that you can-," _

_Zack suddenly pulled Kaia into a warm embrace. Surprising her. "Kaia. You are like a sister to me. Even more than Cloud is a brother to me. I would not wish death upon you. Ever." _

_"Not even when I didn't lift a finger to save the women you loved?" Kaia asked. _

_"Never. Aerith and I are together now. We stopped Sephiroth and I would never want it to change. Now, I believe that a lot of people are expecting you to wake up pretty soon. I'll be in your dreams. And I have a gift for you when you wake up." He kissed her forehead before stepping back and fading away into darkness with the white room. _

Kaia's eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, eyes slitting at everyone in the room. Yuffie jumped in surprise and promptly fell off the bed where she had been sitting next to the now alert blunette.

"Kaia, what's wrong?" Tifa asked cautiously.

Kaia glanced at her and then her eyes searched Cloud out. He was leaning against the wall behind the others, his eyes closed and his head down. As he felt her eyes on him he opened his own eyes and looked up.

"Zack." Kaia said quietly.

Cloud looked confused. "How do you know about him?"

"He was one of my best friends in SOLDIER, even if he was a lower rank and we hardly saw each other.. And he just spoke to me. He said something about him having to die so he and Aerith could stop Sephiroth

Cloud was staring at her. "What is this about Zack needing to die?"

"So I did know what I was talking about. He said that if he hadn't died you never would have stopped Sephiroth because he needed to help Aerith." Kaia relayed.

"Why would he speak to you though when it's my fault he died?" Cloud snapped.

"You're fault? Excuse me I was the one who was sent on a mission to find Sephiroth and drag his defected ass back to Shinra. If I hadn't I would have been there to save both your sorry ass and him. Not only that, if I had listen to the part of me that told me what Sephiroth was doing was wrong, Aerith wouldn't have died. It would have been me beneath that blade." Kaia irrupted.

Then entire room was silent.

"Wait a minute. Back up. What did you have to do with Aerith's death?" Tifa demanded, her confusion and sadness rising in her snappish tone.

"I was in control of that blade partially. I was sucked into it by Jenova while I was asleep, and I watched it all play out. A part of me told me to run forwards and push her away and I tried to but Jenova convinced me that it was all right to kill that one women. I never should have listened to her." Kaia admitted.

They all gaped at her.

"You mean to tell us that Aerith and Zack's deaths were you're fault?" Cloud asked, very confused and slightly annoyed that they were all talking about Aerith again.

"That is exactly what I'm saying." Kaia said.

A white light suddenly exploded between the two siblings and Cloud took a step backward in surprise. What looked like two stars floated before them.

_"Both of you stop this idiocy!" _The larger star snapped and everyone besides Cloud and Kaia nearly jumped a foot in the air at Zack's voice.

_"Zack be a bit nicer." _The smaller one scolded lightly. Aerith's voice was still as soft as ever.

_"Aerith I've been as nice as I can be and these two are still beating themselves up, and soon possibly each other, over our deaths." _Zack's star growled, seemingly trying to calm down without much success.

"But it is my fault." Cloud and Kaia said at the same time. Both glared at each other. Kaia's eyes burned with an inner fire and Cloud's narrowed.

"You don't have any part in this Kaia." Cloud snapped.

"Oh really. I was the one who let Sephiroth kill her." Kaia pointed at Aerith's star.

_"Kaia you couldn't do anything about it. You were blinded by Jenova. She's powerful enough to blind even the strongest mind. You couldn't help it." _Aerith's voice was calm and would have been reassuring to anyone except Kaia.

Kaia's eye twitched. "How do you know who I am?"

_"Zack never stops talking about his 'sister' as he refers to you." _Aerith said, laughing slightly.

"It's still my fault." Cloud muttered.

"You moron! It is more my fault than yours!" Kaia raged. Her voice then got quieter and much more venomous. "I was the trained first class SOLDIER. I was a Turk before that. I should have made the correct decision."

_"But you did make the correct decision." _The start that was Aerith zoomed over to her and hovered only inches from her nose. _"The decision you made was a __pure__ decision in my eyes." _

"But if it lead to the deaths of two people my own brother cared for so deeply, how was it pure?" Kaia asked quietly.

_"Because Kaia, that decision came from your heart. You didn't go off common knowledge. Or what anyone else told you to do. You went with what the man you loved wanted because you were listening to your heart. That's the purest decision there is." _

"But I did do what someone else told me to do. Jenova-,"

_"The one thing I have found that is stronger than Jenova is-," _

_"Not Cloud!" _Zack broke in laughing.

Aerith ignored him. _"Love. You loved him and would have followed him to the ends of the earth. Jenova had nothing to do with that. I sensed it within you that night that Sephiroth killed me. I knew that you were there too inside his mind. I could also tell that you wanted to save me and for that I can hold nothing against you. And Zack couldn't hold a grudge to save his life." _She laughed.

Kaia mounted her motorcycle the next day, her temper on the verge of splitting. Zack, in all his starry glory, had decided to accompany Kaia home and stay with her for a while. Kaia, needless to say, was livid.

"Bye Kaia!" Yuffie called, jumping up and down in the doorway of Seventh Heaven and waving. "Don't stay away to long okay."

Kaia ignored her as she pulled on her helmet and looked at the rest of the group as she got ready to start up the bike. Cloud looked as tired and depressed as ever. Aerith's star hovering next to him, making it look like he had a fairy sitting on his shoulder. Tifa was waving and Vincent was nowhere in sight. They hadn't been able to find him that morning, with the assumption that he had departed sometime in the night.

Kaia had been a bit hurt that he hadn't stuck around to say goodbye, but she was putting up her emotionless mask today and would not let people see how it affected her.

"Come on Kaia, you and I both know how much you wanted Vincent to see you off this morning." Zack taunted.

Kaia growled low in her throat and started up her bike. "Watch it Star Boy, or I'll kick your ass all the way back to the Lifestream."

"Such a temper this morning. Could the absence of your moody vampire have something to do with it?

"Shut up Zack." She gunned the engine and sped off down the street, not once looking back over her shoulder. At the edge of the city she felt a pair of eyes on her and skidded to a stop, spinning her motorcycle around and looking up.

There, perched on the building of Midgar that was closest to the outskirts, was Vincent, his blood red cloak drifting about him in the wind, as his black hair covered most of his face. Kaia saw him nod to her and she nodded back. The two knew they would see each other in good time. In fact, a teenaged remnant would be the one to bring Kaia back to her brother and his friends.

**Be sure to check out The New Addition next, since it IS the sequal to this and the third one in this series. I may take it down and edit it but... probably not. lol R&R this time at least please! 3**


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